Juvenile Products Corp. of Miami, Fla. (xe2x80x9cJuvenilexe2x80x9d), which holds license rights in the present invention, markets a waterless vaporizer, which is described and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,212 (Freidel, Oct. 19, 1999) for xe2x80x9cWaterless Vaporizer,xe2x80x9d (hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes). The Juvenile vaporizer has a small electrical resistor that thermally induces an air flow through openings in the case and through a refill pad supported on a pad-supporting grille on the top of the case. The pad is impregnated with a vaporizable substance, such as menthol dissolved in eucalyptus oil, and the thermally induced air flow vaporizes the substance and conducts the vapor into the environment. The Juvenile vaporizer described above is configured and constructed for use in a room of a building and is energized by ordinary household current.
Closed vehicles, such as cars, vans, utility vehicles, trucks, boats with closed cabins, and the like, present an environment for their occupants that in some circumstances can be unpleasant. For example, even with a good ventilating system a closed road vehicle driven in heavy traffic or in an area with significant air pollution can become stuffy and malodorous. Many individuals, moreover, are used to aroma therapy in a room setting and would benefit from having aroma therapy readily available in a vehicle. Vehicle occupants are also prone to drowsiness, which is, of course, very undesirable and dangerous in the case of the driver.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vaporizer that is configured and constructed to be used in a vehicle, especially a land motor vehicle of a personal-use type (as distinguished from, for example, a mass transit vehicle). A further object is to provide a vaporizer that is capable of use with various substances that serve various purposes, such as providing aroma therapy, air-freshening, and inhibiting drowsiness.
The foregoing objects are attained, in accordance with the present invention, by a vehicle vaporizer that includes an elongated case having a plug at its distal end, the plug being adapted to be received in the socket of a vehicle cigarette lighter, and a tray receptacle in its proximal end, the tray receptacle having an opening at the proximal end of the case. A tray is received in the tray receptacle for movement axially of the case, is adapted to support a porous pad impregnated with a vaporizable substance, and is movable out of the tray receptacle through the opening for manual replacement of a pad on the tray and into the tray receptacle for operation. An electrical resistance heating element is electrically connected to terminals on the plug for energization by the vehicle cigarette lighter and is positioned in the case adjacent the tray receptacle. Ventilation openings in portions of the case on opposite sides of the tray receptacle and in the tray enable conduction of a thermally induced flow of ambient air through a pad received on the tray by the heating element so as to transport vapor into the vehicle.
A vehicle vaporizer, according to the present invention, is of simple construction, can be produced at a low cost, is small in size, and is extremely easy to use. The user need only pull the tray out of the case, place a pad on the tray, push the tray back into the case, and insert the vaporizer into the cigarette lighter of the vehicle. A very small amount of heat generated by the energized heating element is sufficient to induce a flow of ambient air through the case and the pad and carry vapor from the pad into the vehicle. The vaporizer is completely safe to use. In that regard, the outside surface of the case is heated to only about 100 degrees F. when the vaporizer is in use. Power consumption is very lowxe2x80x94only about two watts is adequate to produce the air flow needed to cause emission of vapor into the vehicle. The vaporizer can be used with pads impregnated with a variety of substances, such as menthol and eucalyptus oil for respiratory relief, peppermint oil for alertness, or a wide variety of other purpose-driven aromatherapy oils, as selected by the user.
In preferred embodiments, the tray is movable along the tray receptacle to a plurality of axial positions so as to vary the degree of exposure of a pad received on the tray to the thermally induced flow of air produced by the heating element. This feature allows the user to choose the intensity of the vapor in the vehicle. For convenience of adjustment, the case has a slot along each side of the tray receptacle, and the tray includes a manually engageable lug protruding through each slot and projecting from the case for facilitating movement of the tray along the tray receptacle. The case and the tray, preferably, have coacting detents arranged to maintain the tray in each of the plurality of positions. It is desirable for the tray to be received fully within the case in all of the plurality of positions.
The case and the tray may have coacting stop surfaces arranged to prevent the tray from being separated from the case when the case is moved out of the tray receptacle for replacement of a pad. The stop surfaces may, for example, be the ends of the slots in the case and the edges of the protruding lugs.
It is advantageous to construct the tray to have a bottom wall, end walls and side walls so as to support a pad on the ends and sides. The side walls may be joined solely to the proximal end wall of the tray so as to form deflectable arms, each of which includes a manually engageable lug adjacent the distal end (the end remote from the proximal end wall of the tray). In that arrangement, the case has a slot in each side of the tray receptacle, one for each lug, and the side walls of the tray and the case have coacting detents arranged adjacent the lugs to maintain the tray in each of the plurality of positions.